Encore reloading issues....

[Zeebob]

I just got an Encore pistol and when I took it to the range, I got light primer strikes... Anyone else have that kind of issue with a .308 in an encore?

I full length sized the first batch...ended up pulling all the bullets and starting over and just partial sizing the once fired brass I had on hand. That seems to have solved the problem so far. Years ago I had a contender in .222 and 357mag and reloaded both of them with out any issues...

Maybe my results would have been better if I had started with new brass..in any case the brass I am using will be carefully segregated from my other .308 brass and I will be paying close attention resizing brass for this pistol..

[BK7saum]

If the cases are once fired and the shoulder doesn't get bumped back far enough, the closing of the action is impeded and the locking lugs do not extend far enough into the frame to fully disengage the "safety". The hammer fall can be slightly slowed. Also, if the shoulder is bumped too far, you've increased the distance that the case can move under impact with the firing pin. I use a Hornady comparator/headspace gauge and bump the shoulders 0.001" on bolt action rifles and 0.002-0.003" on break actions and semi-autos.

When you've measured a fired case, then you know and can measure how far to adjust the sizing dies.

If you don't have a gauge, a deprimed .40S&W case over the case mouth and resting on the shoulder does the same thing. Just measure case head to case head with calipers. The ID of the case or gauge is irrelevant as the measurement obtained is only a before and after sizing measurement.

[ShooterAZ]

It sounds like perhaps you pushed the shoulder back a tad...?

[Zeebob]

BK7saum... I don't have a gauge..so I will use your 40S&W case measuring tip! Thanks, that will help me out from this point on..

[white eagle]

just neck size and you should hold the chamber dimensions

[blackpowder man]

I had an encore .308 rifle barrel that had a big or long chamber. I had better luck with neck sizing. Still have some ammo loaded for it that will likely be too oversize to unload in anything I'll own again. It shot accurately once I got it sorted out.

[Ed K]

The frame-to-barrel gap need be taken into account along with the chamber in order to achieve correct headspace.
A hyberbole to illustrate the point would be: it does not matter how perfectly the case is sized to match the chamber if the frame-to-barrel gap exceeded the length of the firing pin protrusion from the breech face... the primer would not be touched!
So determine proper headspace as a function of chamber dimension + frame-to-barrel gap.

[Zeebob]

Thanks for the feedback guys.. I will stick with neck sizing from now on. Last range session went well with no problems at all. Accuracy was good too! Looks like it will be ready for deer season after all!

[oger]

More than likely the shoulder is back too far just neck size the cases after firing and it should be fine. The old Contender in 35 Remington had real problems with headspace because of the small shoulder, so much so that people had them rechambered to another case ( I don't remember what it was).